Spies expresses faculty, trustee concerns over Wythes report at USG meeting

Vice President for Finance and Administration Richard Spies GS '72 said at last night's USG senate meeting that faculty and trustees are concerned about strains on academics and student life that may result from the 500-student increase proposed by the Wythes committee.

Spies — who sported jeans, a plaid shirt and sneakers instead of his habitual, more formal garb — said professors at a recent faculty committee meeting said they shared students' concerns about how a larger student body might negatively impact academic life at the University.

"It was very clear the faculty were nervous about this," Spies said. "They worry about having the resources there to teach those additional students."

The USG has raised concerns that additional students could overcrowd already popular departments and courses — especially classes taught by famous scholars, such as history professor James McPherson's civil war class, which are traditionally oversubscribed.

Spies said similar concerns were addressed during Wythes committee discussions but "did not get said explicitly enough in the report." He added that when the board of trustees meets Saturday, "if nothing else changes, there will be more reference to the teaching needs — especially in the over-enrolled departments — and student life concerns."

He also discussed several possible sites where a sixth residential college may be constructed, such as the space north of Forbes College or behind Dillon Gym.

He said proposals to change the Graduate College into a residential college "seem to be met with universal unhappiness. We've been successful in angering everyone."

Spies also mentioned a plan that evoked hearty laughter from the USG senate — building two residential colleges on top of a demolished Butler College. "Is anybody here particularly attached to Bulter?" he joked.

Returning to serious discussion, he said one solution would be to "knock down all [Butler] dorms and then build two colleges on that site."

He emphasized the administration was not in a rush to build the sixth college. "We're not on a fast track," he said. "There is no need to bring a bulldozer in and start to construct."